The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, signed a new law on Monday that allocates $ 180 million for forest fire prevention projects, such as prescribed burns and the management of vegetation, through the State.
It is the last fire prevention after the Fire Storm of Los Angeles in January, and only a splinter of the billions of dollars assigned in the bill 100 of the Assembly, the draft Law of Early Budget for the Legislative Session that began at the end of last year. The bill, presented by the Jesse Gabriel de Encino Democratic Assembly, also includes a list of democratic priorities, from electric vehicle incentives to subsidies for native tribes in California to investigate cases of disappearance and murdered.
The bill divides the $ 181 million for fuel management projects between six preservations through California, including the Coast of the State of California that manages land in the area of the Bay and on the coast. It also excludes $ 10 million for fire response training for the Karuk tribe in northern California. The funds come from proposition 4, a $ 1.5 billion bonus approved by California voters in November for climatic and conservation projects.
Earlier this year, Newsom also approved $ 2.5 billion to help finance the immense task in the Los Angeles region of recovery of a series of unprecedented forest fires in January.
“With this last financing round, we continue to increase the speed and size of forest management and vegetation essential to protect communities,” said Newsom in a press release.
California Republicans have long affirmed that Newsom and Democrat forest fire prevention efforts. But the Democrats in the State Assembly approved the bill on a vote of the line almost of the party last week with the support of a solitary republican, Greg Wallis, from Riverside County.
This is because the Republican members of the Assembly firmly opposed a provision in the bill that sends $ 2.8 billion of the General Fund of the State to the California Health Department, care services, cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the cost of the Medii service provider for low -income and disabled persons.
Part of those unexpected costs? More and more immigrants who entered the country without permission are registering in Medi-Cal, said officials of the Newsom Administration to Calmatters in March.
The Democrats and senior officials of the Governor’s office have said that Medi-Cal is a critical medical care provider for California residents who entered the US. UU. Without permission. California made these immigrants eligible for Medi-Cal coverage last year. State officials recently estimated the cost of this change at $ 8.5 billion annually, or approximately 4% of the general funds of $ 212 billion of the state, Calmatters reported.
A spokesman for the president of the Assembly, Robert Rivas, a Democrat, blamed the “chaotic republican policies” for additional expense in Medi-Cal, noting that the Republicans in Congress are looking for significant cuts to Medicaz, the National HEAL care provider for low level A.
“Last week, the Republicans of the Assembly voted against the Medi-Cal funds to help the elderly, children and families,” said spokesman Nick Miller, in an email. “Interestingly, this budget bill also included $ 181 million for the prevention of forest fires, and California Republicans still voted No.”
The financing of Medi-Cal for immigrants “was the great objection that Republicans,” said Jim Stanley, spokesman for the Republican leader of the James Gallagher Assembly.
He only thought that the Republican party was largely opposed to the bill, Stanley said that the additional $ 180 million for forest fire prevention is a “step in the right direction.”
Republicans have said that Newsom cut funds for the recovery and prevention of forest fires in recent years, an accusation that went viral among the conservatives online in line of Los Angeles.
In response, Newsom launched a website to combat what it described as misinformation and said the budget for the State’s fire extinction agency, the Department of Forest Protection and Fire of California, or Cal Fire, almost doubled in 2019.
Notly, the Budget Law signed on Monday also includes $ 16 million in subsidies to American native tribes in California to resolve cases of missing and murdered indigenous people, as well as additional subsidies for victims of trafficking in persons and hate crimes. In addition, it includes almost $ 20 million for a state program that helps low -income residents to replace their service cars with electric or hybrid vehicles.
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